It is a joke amongst my friends that I am the BAAAAD BAAAAAAD BAAAAAAAAAD Grandma, well I think that today I have totally redeemed myself. After months of Jess inching her way into the craftroom I relented and said today was the day I would teach her to embroider. Got McCains pizza squares and bought cup cakes on the way round there to pick her up. We played the usual games of Trouble and for once Grandma slaughtered her. All the time she's eyeing up the embroidery threads next to my chair. Unbeknowns to her I had already got the threads, material, needles and scissors all ready. "Grandma I really really would like to learn to sew" "Yes, darling grandaughter, shall we begin" I got her to draw out a simple flower shape and to write her name on a piece of homespun, she chose her threads and I did two stitches for her and away she went. She is a NATURAL, the way she held her material, she never got a knot in the threads once, she never pulled the threads too tight and the way she held the material and needle was like she's been doing it since birth. She even managed to hold a conversation and watch tele while stitching - she's definately her grandmothers granddaughter. She had a little break and we put lunch on and since we couldn't go on our picnic because of the rain we set it up in the living room, once lunch was over and cupcakes eaten - they were strawberry, vanilla and chocolate frosted and I told her to chose the two she wanted - she chose strawberry and chocolate but sneaked a small bite out of the vanilla one just to see what it tasted like we set to to more crafting.
After we cleared up from lunch we set to more stitching, then she needed a break and we got the beads out and she made some bracelets while we watched Peter Pan, Jess was amazed that Wendy kissed Peter Pan and refused to take her eyes off the screen even while she was threading beads, definately got my genes.
I went down to lie on the bed for a bit and read the paper and she joined me with her stitching, she just laid back propped up on all the cushions and stitched away. I just cannot believe for her first time how easily it came to her, she's 7. I taught handicraft up at the school a few years back and the 10 and eleven year olds were hopeless, knots, pulled work, I was forever rethreading needles and pulling back work.
So I suppose I'd better get her a little sewing box made up. All we did was running stitch and a french knot but she seems well and truly hooked.
Thinking it was safe to relax a little I made myself a coffee, she was still all fired up for crafting and she got out the blank jigsaw puzzles and I drew out one for her to colour in, but she lost interest in that and left me to the colouring in, but then she came back and did one for herself.
She made two more bracelets and I decided that was enough, we'd excelled ourselves and we hadn't even done half the normal things we usually do. It was a very good day and I know which one of us will be going to bed early tonight. I've just done a quiick tidy up and removed three cups of coffee that I never got to drink.
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